


Crucify

by BarettaVendetta



Series: Tales from the Konoha Library [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Blood, Gen, Self-Harm, bereavement
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-01
Updated: 2014-07-01
Packaged: 2018-02-07 00:14:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1877835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BarettaVendetta/pseuds/BarettaVendetta
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Neji Hyuuga is five years old, a bird trapped in a cage by the Main House of the Hyuuga clan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Crucify

_You're just an empty cage if you kill the bird..._

 

Standing on a chair in the bathroom in the branch house's section of the Hyuuga complex, Neji peered into the mirror and cautiously, tentatively, parted the bandages on his forehead, pulling them open like a pair of curtains. He hated doing this, but all the same, he felt he had to do it every so often to remind himself of the destiny that had been chosen for him.

There it was. The curse mark. Two black lines, and in between them, two further black lines in a cross with smaller black lines tapering off the ends, like a circle of disembodied legs. Neji imagined these legs walking around in an endless circle, trapped. Alternatively, they were marching over the trampled bodies of the branch house. He'd always been a morbid child, but there was some truth in this imagery; after all, they'd placed this mark on him to remind him of his place. He was in the branch family of the Hyuuga clan. There was no way out. If he tried anything, they'd activate the mark. His brain would hurt and he'd fall to the floor in pain, just like his dad had when Uncle Hiashi had activated it. Perhaps he'd even die.

Lost in a forest of legs and black haoris and kimonos at his father's funeral, Neji had peered through the gaps to see if he could find his little cousin Hinata. How he envied her, not having to grow up with that thing on her forehead. But then, she did have Uncle Hiashi for a father. Neji hated Uncle Hiashi, always had ever since he'd caused his dad to collapse on the floor in agony and told Neji to accept his fate, and even more so ever since his dad had gone to sacrifice himself to Kumogakure and never come back.

His fate had been sealed when he was four years old, last winter when Hinata turned three. Members of the main house had been present when the mark had been placed on Neji's head, and he'd wanted to spit in their faces, every single one of them, but of course, he was a Hyuuga, one of the Four Pillars of Konoha, and Hyuuga children didn't spit in the faces of others, particularly when those others had the ability to literally destroy your brain. He wouldn't have put it past Uncle Hiashi to have done such a thing. After all, Uncle Hiashi was always yelling at Hinata for not having the correct stance, for being too slow on her feet, too slow to respond, even when she was still forming sentences.

Back in the present, Neji touched the mark on his forehead, tracing the lines. They were not raised, like scar tissue. They did not blur, like written _kanji._ He licked his finger and rubbed it against the curse mark. Nothing happened. He scratched at his forehead, but the curse mark still remained. Frustrated, Neji began to dig in his fingernails, his skin growing blotchy and red as he relentlessly and fruitlessly scratched at the mark. He clawed at his forehead, tears welling in his eyes at the pain, wishing he could tear the damn thing off. His skin was raw. His nails tore away at it.

He felt something warm and wet trickling down his face. Blood was coming out of his forehead.

But the infernal mark was still there, and Neji began to cry quietly, tears trickling down his face and mingling with the blood. It was useless. He was going to carry this thing on his head for the rest of his life. He rearranged the bandages. They soaked up blood.

Uncle Hiashi eyed him with distaste as Neji sat on his knees and watched the main house head and his tiny daughter train.

“What has happened to your forehead? Let me see it.”

Slavelike, Neji undid the bandages and showed Uncle Hiashi his damaged forehead.

Uncle Hiashi inspected him and said, “Did you do this?”

Neji did not speak.

“Answer me, boy. Did you do this?”

Neji realised his uncle had figured him out, and nodded, and saw double as Uncle Hiashi slapped him hard.

“What in the world are you playing at, you little fool? Were you trying to get rid of the curse mark?” Neji bowed his head and chewed his lip, afraid he would cry in front of his uncle. “You were, weren't you? Good gods, what a wasted effort. The curse mark is ingrained in your skin, Neji. It's not going to come off. For such a supposedly clever child, that was very foolish behaviour. What a disappointment you are.”

 _Don't glare at him,_ Neji thought. _Dad did that to Hinata, and look where that got him._

“It is a matter of circumstance that you were born into the branch family, Neji,” Uncle Hiashi continued. “You may be an intelligent child, and you are certainly more talented than this one here” - he glared at Hinata, who cowered visibly - “but you will never be one of us. Now go and clean yourself up, and don't let me catch you doing this again.”

Neji nodded, and went to the bathroom to wash the dried blood off his forehead.

**Author's Note:**

> It was the line in the song about the bird and the cage that made me choose it for Neji, because of the bird allegory throughout his story arc in Naruto.


End file.
